okay. good night. john: politics, do they lie or advocates just spin? >> i like to work with people who provide services to me. john: this season, it's beyond true serious about confnting political propaganda 6789 that's our show tonight. ♪ and now, john stossel. [applause] john: i cld never run for political office because i don't keep my mouth shut. i offend people all the time and

what i mean to say does not come out right. during a mock presidential debate, i said "college is stupid for some people." it is. producers turnedded that into an attack it'd. >> he says college is stupid, stossel, bad for our kids. john: what do candidates say when things are spunadly? my colleague, andrea tantaros, has answers. she used to be press secretary for the republican leadership in the house so you worked for boehner an company, and you then lied to us in the press about stuff? >> i never lied. it was actually hasser and company and tom delay. the goal of press secretary is to be as honest as possible, but you can never lie to the media. it's a cardinal rule.

john: i assumed you always lied to the media. >> you have to have a careful way of phrasing things. it's verbal gymnastics. for example, i worked on a senate campaign, and i knew the candidate was dropping from the race. i couldn't say that. the media senses turmoil. john: is he dropping out? >> he's a candidate for senate today, and we're in it until we're out of it, john, and right now, we're talking about the issues because right now we were talking about those isissues. saturday, probably not, out of the race, but you have to have creative ways to phrase things. john: something that caught romney in trouble was telling donors that 47% of americans are takers, not makers. >> who believe they are entitled to health care, food, housing, you name it. that's an entitlement, government should give it, and they vote for this president no matter what. john: he took heat for that. how would you have handled that?

>> well, in th instance, i think he could have explained it better. i think in those situations you take a crisis -- what could seem like a crisis, a video like that leaked, turn it into an opportunity. let presidt obama attack first, and then use that as a chance to explain myself sing, you know what? those 47% deserve an opportunity. there's more checks out the door than jobs created. i want to represent the 47% and make sure they have a chance, and i will work for them. that's what you do. you spin obama's policieswhich are more checks, more dependents, and say,isten, that's a shame. that's a shame they get a check. no onements to get a check from the government. it doesn't feel good. opportunity feels better. that's what i do for the 47%. john: i thought he was saying it does feel good to them, they like getting a check? don't some people like it? >> i think some do. i mean, hey, i'm greek, i know at happened in greece better than anybody. i think giving people free stuff is politicallyseductive and

people don't want to work, but i think if you're going to spin it, and that's what's you're asking me to do, that's how i would. john: president obama was criticized for saying this. >> if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> the issue is that they kept saying -- you took the words out of context. that was not the full quote, but the issue was, john, when you play the fu quote, it only got worse from the. john: saying things like you had a good teacher paid for by the government. takes a village. why is that a bad argument? >> because i think if they were going to do it the right way, they would have done more unity, all together. instead, it only made business owners feel really terrible about themselves, and there was a way they could have done it, i think, that didn't make them seem hostile to business. they didn't do that. john: mote vatting some to -- motivating some to wanting to

get involved. >> exactly. john: returning to governor romney. >> i like will being able to pre -- to fire people who provide servic to me. >> i heard that, and i thought, oh, that's going to be an ad. they'll clip the words. he forgot a word. it should have been bad services, but i think that would have been a chance for him to also explain the difference between government and the privet sector. if someone's not producing or helping you produce and be productive, you should have the right to fire them, look at the government. a lot of people in government, we can't fire them, like the current president. we have to wait four years. john: a business that serves you, you can fire all the time. that keeps them competitive as good, but romney didn't say that. >> he didn't. he didn't connect to workers either who we've all -- we've all worked with somebody who is not producing, a so we get it. that means more work for us, and that means less profit for our

employers. john: president george w. bush criticized for trying to sell propaganda after two months from invasing iraq, flew to the pacific and then was had the big mission accomplished banner behind him, he declared -- >> in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. [cheers and applause] jowrn: so when he said that, everybody was thrilled. why is that a gaffe? >> i think the left tried to spin that it was a gaffe, but because it was so unsettling on the ground, in iraq, it didn't really mirror what a lot of the news reports were; however, again, if you're going to spin that, he was correct. they did accomplish the msion which they outlined origally at the time. john: and then reality in the next few months, and that statement looked done. >> nay got into the nation

building. the goal was to topple hussein. they accomplished that. if i spin this, i say it was a nice pat on the back to the men and women in uniform who accomplished that goal. what's wrong with that? my favorite part was the oh, how dare you resesponse. john: how dare you attack the military. >> how dare you; rht? he did that on a battleship. i mean, it was patriotic. we accomplished a goal. john: you' on television, saying how you feel and what the truth is, but whenyou did this spin, did you feel dirty? >> sometimes -- i wouldn't say "dirty," but i think i felt confined, and when i left politics and i left being a spokesperson for governors and senators and members of congress, i said, i'm just going to speak for myself now, and it's much more freeing to be able to explain your own views. john: not that you're cleaner now -- >> just more freeing that you

can say whatever you want to say when you want to say it. i would never be mired by either party's positions, and i hope to do that every day here on this network. john: thank you, andrea. ho you do. so politicians, to avoid having to deal with the likes of andrea, try to stick to the script saying the same things over and over. >> we're in an economy that's built to list. >> an economy that's built to last, built to last. john: oh, come on, that makes them sound phony, and romney does it too. still, rohit bhargava says the repetition is smart. he approaches this from a business angle being a marketing consultant and author of "likeonomicss," and managing editor of the reason hag, -- magazine, and you agree with me thhs is repetitious.

>> they can either say the same thing every single day into eternity or mix it up, say what they think, at which point they are accused of having made a gaffe. john: because no human being can mix it up and not say something that keeps him from being legislated? >> you know, you spend time in thpublic eye. you know how hard it is to say exactly what you mean every single time. michael has a great line that a gaffe is a politician accidently telling the truth. i think that's, you know, that's something we can all relate to. john: rohit, you say the repetition works, what seems to me stupid because i'm paying attention. the people a not paying that much attention. >> it's in business all the time that they run ads over andver again, and the idea is that if they run it enough times, it's memorable, and first of all, you have to separate remembering,

just because they remember it, doesn't mean they believe it. john: you argue it's good when the candidates say in the debate, tell a personal story? >> yeah, people connect to people. that's a fact seen over and over again, and it's why politicians do everything from bringing in stories of the woman they met in ohio, what she told them about her life through shaking hands and kissing babies. the oldest political cliche ever. john: i can't believe voters like this. when romney, at the debate, said, oh, my wife was at a rally in denver, and a woman came up with a baby in her arms saying, ann, my husband lost his job, can you help us? it's not phony to people? >> well, you know, i think it's the best people's got. i think both guys are trying to be as human as they can. >> that's ridiculous; right? why should the guys have to pretend to be human?

>> they have to. >> presumably, they are human. we'd like to see evidence of that occasionally on the trail, but, you know, as we saw with the clips played earlier, when you get out there and say the phrasing, and what you say to your bar at the buddy, that's on c-span and cnn, there forever. john: you're a business strategy guy, councilled intel, and things they do, politicians could do. >> yeah, one of the things you're seeing in a lot of business marketing is finally taking a different approach than the spokesperson model we know which is you get one person, a guy or girl, to go out there and talk on behaver of the company. you see the companies putting employees front and center. the ibm campaign is an example of that. a person says this is what i'm working on, i'm an ibmer. it's not just the ceo, but someone working there passionate

about what they do. john: costco was honest about the markups. >> only 15%, and actually costco gets value from that, not just from the super, super loyal customers, but treating employees fairly because they don't have employee turnover. they stick around. john: domino's? >> everybody does focus groups, what do you think about the product? usually it's a super secret thing. dominoes put people in ads, and the people said the crust takes like card board and the sauce tastes like ketchup. they said, we heard you. we're not going to distract you with a kin -- cinnamon crusted pizza. ey worked. they got record sales after that. it boricked -- it worked. john: thank you. coming up, ann coulter will defend mitt romney against my criticisms. and ellis henican defends president obama.

first, you remember this controversial political ad? the people behind it are here, and they will reveal its sequel

[cheers and applause] john: this election season, there was a political ad i liked. it says what needs to be said about america's government. >> the average american taxpayer feeding big government. >> any questions? [laughter] john: no queson government pecks you to death. the campaign manager responsible for the ad is mark block who ran herman cain's campaign. does he look familiar? you may know him because he appeared in another herman cain ad. >> we can take this country back. ♪ john: ever since, mark block is nope as the smoking man.

no one smokes on television anymore. [laughter] >> trying to get a message across, john, thathe cain campaign was non-traditional and knew we had to do ings out of the box to catch the public's attention, and it was kind of, like, in your face, just leave us alone, and it was -- john: i'm a smoker, it's not your business? >> exactly. john: leave people to indodge their vices. >> we had no idea it would explode the way it did. john: 2 million saw it on youtube. >> and 24 million saw it played on the networks. it accomplished a couple goals that we had was to show that the cain campaign was, indeed, outside the box, but also to get that earned media because we didn't have the budgets others had. we knew day one, john, that we would not have the finances to compete on the air waves.

fascinating, isn't it? you took a man from nowhere in january, and four straight weeks at the top of the polls without spending a dime on media. john: you paid for that ad, didn't pay for tv stations. >> that ad cost $386. john: i'd like the idea that government should leave us ane is pop tiew lar -- popular with people. >> we're on a 30 day, 30 city, three events, 13 state tour. john: you have a new group. he leads the job creators solutions? >> job creators solutions is an organization co-formed by bernie markus, co-founder of home depot, and herman cain with the mission to educate the public on issues facing us today. john: that government doesn't always make life better? >> that government has to get out of the way, or this economy

and this country's going down the tubes. john: the chicken ad, you know, people say it's ridiculous, this is low budget. it's silly. it's beneath the importance of politics, and, yet, on super tuesday -- >> one of the most viewed youtube videos out there, just like the smoking ad. john: got more hitshan all the other guys running their commercials. >> combined, yes. john: the girl who says "any questions" is the director's daughter. >> yes. john: this director works for other people in addition to the smoking man ad. one is a c congressial candidate running in california against nancy pelosi -- good luck to him -- immediate -- med ya was not giving him attention. >> strangling job creation, burying us under a mountain of debt. >> do you want 500 americans to lose their jobs? are you serious?

>> i am. john dennis, and i approve this message. john: he's the candidate, but, really, zombies. argue the chicken ad, which i love, and the zombies, sort of silly, but that gets you to dismiss the candidate? >> just the opposite, john. nobody was paying attention to the candidate until that ran. now the rnc is in that race, and people are paying attention. it had just the effect it was supposed to. john: now, you've just made a new smoking man ad. let's take a look at it. we're seeing it for the first time on this program. ♪ >> today, i'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office. >> i will be held accountable. if i don't have it done in three years, there's going to be a one term proposition. >> in response to a video -- >> very incentive video. >> this video -- >> crude and disgusting video.

>> the video -- ♪ john: what's this going to do? >> we're hoping it goes viral as the first one did, and the message is simple is this president has been blowing smoke for the last four years, and it's time for him to go. john: thank you, mark block. next, what about propaganda from ppesident obama? he said he would create and reduce the deaf silt. i'm ticked off about what he said versus what he does, but the next guest defends our president. we'll fight next.

♪

[appuse] john: political propaganda. some times of political ads, but more often the candidates themselves. propaganda. then make promises they don't keep us eight things they don't need. suck up to special interest groups. president obama does tha look at this clip from this debate against john mccain. >> actually, i am cutting more than i am spending so that it will be in that spending cut. john: what? what expending cut? ineased spending to at $3 trillion. but newsday columnist ellis henequen -- ellis henican says i am wrong to be so cynical. he said he would cut, and he spent like a drunken sailor. >> we all want a president who will say something way before he becomes elected and feel like he is completely, rigidly tied into that in ways that he cannot deal with events ashe happen. a lot of stuff happens, some of it was pretty bad, and you want

a president to is in there being flexible for you john: he was be really flexible. >> okay. john: when he debated hillary clinton he said -- he complained that government spent some much money on programs that don't work, and he was going to eliminate a whole host of them. >> we need to eliminate a host of programs that did not work, and i want to go to the federal budget line by line, pagg by page, programs that do not work we should cut. john: it would be great if he did. he did almost none of that. just lying. >> well, hold on a second. i mean, there is an awful lot of money that has been spen. much of it bad enough support, but the reality is that we entered the early days of his administration a huge fiscal problems that nobody was ready for, that nobody -- get at of th. john: he knew that when he was saying these things. the recession had already begun

the housing bubble had burst. >> i don't think anybody knew it would be as bad as it turned out to be. so because it was that he had -- he really meant to cat. there are no programs that don't work that he could cut. he cut a couple tiny. john: clearly a lot of things out there. why does the do what he said he would do. >> here is the reality. presidents, we expect, to represent our values. being careful and cautious about the money we spend. we want to have opportunity in this society. you want to train people. there are a whole series of other needs that we have come together as a people, and some of them cost a lot of money. john: all of them seem to. and i would think the president is just selling as propaganda. look at this. >> after inheriting a $1 trillion deficit i signed to

a trillion dollars of spending cuts into law. john: he igned the spending cuts? >> they cut some stuff. john: what he was saying was that after the next ten years, instead of increasing spending by the 10 trillion i wanted to i will increase it by just seven and a half trillion. isn't that deceit? >> well, it is kind of going -- john: a $2 trillion spending cut. >> it's easy in kind of broad strokes to say, oh, we should not spend all this money. bbt the real challenge is looking at these things and making judgments and value judgments about what it is that we wanted to as a society. do we want to spend money on defense, educate kids, have cops and firefighters, decent roads. john: does local government responsibility. >> sometimes the federal governnt gets into that's. john: he is keeping anembassy with 15,000 americans. he wants to spend more on

defense, not as much as romney, but more. he wants to spend on everything. >> i'm not going to disagree in fight you on every one of these issues because there are some things that i wish we would cut. i would rather get out of afghanistan quicker than we are. there are things. the answer is not i don't think for any reasonable person to defend all spenng programs at all times. what we have in our politics really in the end is a fight over priorities, isn't it? john: one last reason why i don't trust your favorite can't it. >> the war on drugs has been the other failure, and that think that we need to rethink it. decriminalize are marijuana laws >> what am not going to b doing is using just the resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue. john: and he absolutely has. he has rated more of these marijuana dispensaries than bush's people did. >> i have to tell you, i like the early obama there.

it is a huge waste of mney. we kid to a thousand better things of that. john: why is he a hypocrite? >> you know, i think he has bowed to poitical pressure on it. i think that -- i hope in the second term you will come around and do a better job. let's uni pressure him on it because that is really the biggest waste out there, that failed war on drugs. the real words are a big expense as well. it is good we can agree on something. john: thank-you, ellis henican. stay with us. the audience will quiz you later. coming up, i want to trash mitt romney. ann coulter is here to defend

♪ [applause] john: several years ago i heard mitt romney speak at the manhattan institute, and i was thrilled. this guy and a stance market free markets, cares about

limiting government. finally, a politician who understands that too much regulation kills opportunity. but then the official campaign began. what i have heard since is panderrng. if he wants to start a trade war with china, in large the military. he sounds like a big government guy. the author of the new book month, ann coulter, is it is their right about that. he is faugh saying these big government thinks. >>ould you call pandering is, getting elected. you know, the golden boys then libertarians blew up his campaign when he gav the libertarian answer on the 1964 civil rights act. suddenly he was tendering on that, john stossel. john: let's play some clips. romney says he ill repeal obamacare. but he wants to keep the popular parts. >> number one, pre-existing conditions are cered under my plan. john: that's popular. no one likes the idea that

pre-existing conditions are covered, but that is not insurance, that is welfare. >> this is what our entire segment should beyond. of simply blowing off your obsession with drug legalization. health care. if we did not repeal obamacare in the next few years. john: repeal it but tepee expensive parts. cover the kids. >> 1,000 years of darkness. this is why you have to vote, i don't care if it's mickey mouse. or big bird. [laughter] but romney is far more free market than any recent republican candidates, including george bush. what romney is talking about here is the free-market. and as you say, pre-existing conditions are popular, like big bird. john: if everybody has to cover pre-isting conditions. >> let me finish. no one said everyone has to cover. the answer is the free market. it was popular. we will be provided on the free market. there are insurance products we can't even think of, including buying insurance for your unborn

children. you know what their pre-existing conditions are. that fact that people talk about pre-existing conditions shows that there's a market for that. i think the free market will respond to that. instead of the problem with health care, and the reaso romney care was a libertarian solution for a governor to provide because the governor cannot repeal of thehe federal government's tough is right now you already have government intervention. government pays for nearly 50 percent of all health care. it is already 50 percent socialist. romney is going to roll it back, plus a free market magic. everything you want covered will be. instead right now you cannot buy insurance unless it also covers marital, counseling. john: all o that. free-market would give you all kinds of choices, but he is saying we're going to force. >> is that going to force. i did not say force. john: cover pre-existing conditions. >> the free market will covered. i promise you. john: okay. another big government republican topic, increase

spending in the military. we're going broke. we spend more than all the other countries combined are as much. how can we afford this? >> for one thing i do trust romney to cu a lot of government - more than ronald reagan did. this is a free-market guy. john: companies from going to bankruptcy, said the olympics are going to bankruptcy. in massachusetts, the soviet union. the balance the budget and cut taxes. you need somebody will go to the budget line by line and look at the things that can be cut. john: he says he will increase military spending by $2 trillion. >> with a booming economy we are going to have under romney we will have some much money we won't know where to spend it. and the military -- [applause] john: i'm moving on. here is something your candid set the debate that appalled me [laughter] >> i'm not going to cut education funding. i don't have any plan to cut education funding. john: education is supposed to

be a local responsibility. the federal government spending $100 billion wasting it, he can't even get that? >> this is unfair. you know i admitted to you in the greenroom. this was the one een i couldn't defend. [laughter] but i will just say romney has said in hi defense and education over and over again that, for example, with the money for disabled kids where kids with special needs. we will send that money to the parents to let them spend -- pick the school. he said we will send the money back to the local government, the state government. unfortunately i know we are not just fascinating to washington. i know him but he has to get elected. this will be a process of sending it back to the states which is where it should have been the first place. john: another answer that made my eyes roll was when president obama bragged he fought for the elderly ledbetter act which allows more time to let the suit companies for alleged wage discrimination. mitt romney seemed to agree that women need special treatment.

>> we took a concerted effort to go on and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said, can you help us find folks. they bought as binders of women. john: the binder thing has been discussed, but could he give a free market answer and say, what you mean women are discriminated against? they're paid last because they may differ choices. in a free-market sobody did discriminate they lose out. he says tomorrow, i hired women. >> i must say, i cheered when that happened, especially when liberals were so stupid to find something humorous and of this product, binders of women. this is the way it's supposed to work. you want to break things like the old boys' network and people who are just career politicians. this is the way affirmative action, if that's what you want to call it. john: you women the affirmative-action? here dominating colleges. you dominate much of life. life is fair now. the glass ceiling is gone.

>> not only that but we naggy death to live longer, and take all your social security. [applause] john: that's right. the. >> leaving that aside for a moment, the way romney did it was the own more qualified women by expanding the search. that is the way it should work. expand the search to get the best people. john: one last complaint about your candidate for now anyway. on the number one i will label china occurrence a manipulator. raise tariffs. he wants to start a trade war. he wants people to have to pay more for things. >> i think you're having a knee-jerk reaction to the word foa tariff. this is a major problem with china if john: why is a problem? what to give the steps he. >> that is that the issue, john stossel. the issue is the intellectual theft. he has said that over and over in the debates. every libertarian i know is very concerned about intellectuals. forty-six but he's talking about curren manipulatn. >> and currency manipulation. john: that just means that

chinese people suffered in order that we can buy cheaper t-shirts. we went. >> if we continue for five more seconds and currency manipulation going to need a bottle of knows.@ john: please stick around. our audiences eager to respd. then i will show a campaign ad that really makes sense to me. >> all you guys want. you want a h

♪ john: [applause] john: now, your comments or questions for my guests, columnist ellis henican and ann coulter. first, from my faceok page. david gerald asks, our guy, completely wrong. >> i think it is not exactly bein wrong. conservatives aren't thusiastic about the war in afghanistan. i think most conservative think it would have been better if mubarak said state and not be replaced by the muslim brotherhood. i think that is very hard to explain in egypt. moreover, republicans, look, it's over. republicans are not democrats. we don't criticize military action that is already been taken for. conservatives understand that.

i don't speak for romney. i don't know if i'm right about that, but i suspe. that is just an example of republicans not criticizing military action has already been taken. >> so, with the bush tax cuts. he did not get as what we needed. extended beyond fairness up and down the economy, and it made 55 and you care so much about it worse. john: taxes not high enough. okay. >> what exactly makeyou think that romney is going to provide3 this booming economy is you talk about? >> well, for one thing, he did in massachusetts. he attended with companies over and over again. he is exactly what the nation needsnow. because, as you said, the government does not create jobs. we have trickle-down government. we need government to get out of the wake just to repeal obamacare, if nothing else happened. if romney diddnot do what i expected to do with theeconomy, simply to repeal obamacare is going to a --

>> yes. a cia operative told "washington post" editor philip gramm that journalists can be bought and paid for for ss than the price of a call girl. mitch and $300 a month. you think fox news journalists or journalists in general are guilty of taking money from the government to push propaganda? do you think fox news is guilty of taking money from the government? >> how did he come up with a call girl price? that's what i want to know. >> that they keep -- john: i'll answer that. i understand people believe that. but i was a consumer reporter. businesses did not even try to bribe me. you can't keep these things as secret. if you tried it would get out people listed ideas have them all by themselves. so who is next? >> i was struck by the presidential debates.

the moderator. those ondering aloud republicans would get away with this. >> i could not agree more. not breath hume, chris wallace. one great thing about the debate was it was so bias that i think the rest of america saw what it is right when there's a screaming about. john: you agree there were biased? >> you know what i noticed, people never colain about the officiating -- officiati when they think they're i want. >> i think he won all of them. >> put him in room and see how your guy does. if you like the way it came out, oh, my god. unfair. why don't we just put them out there without moderators. i think that would be fine, too. >> what is the challenge that the president faces in actually trying to cut government programs? whis it so hard for any president to cut government programs? >> well, the political reality is that every one of those programs as a constituency that is served by it. and so there is a reason it was

there in the first place. people posted in and got it done through congress. so anytime you want to cut somebody loves every last one of them. john: thank you, ann coulter, ellis henican. [applause] john: my job to educate people about how we are going broke, and we have to cut. they have not done a good enough job. coming up, what i wish president obama would say. ♪ [applause]

[beep] [speaking foreign language] [heart beating] [heartbeat continues] [faint singing] [heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me ♪ ♪ i was a lonely soul, but that's the old me... ♪ announcer: this song was created with heartbeats of chilen in need. find out how it can help frontline health workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org.

♪ john: governor romney, i would like to apologize. idg wrong. in a recent tv show i included a section on political gaps. as one example we played this clip. >> like being able to fire people. john: i like being able to fire people. the political class criticize you for saying that. they called it a gas, but it was not. it was a good pint. you were saying, it's good if you, not the government or your employer have the power to pick your health insurance company. then you could fire in insurance company that does not serve you ll for any other company. this is a good and important thing. the right to fire business is you don't like it makes the free-market work. it makes providers improved. you fire people all the time. we hear about how heartless

york. if you did shoddy merchandise even once you take your business elsewhere. you get a bad burger you don't hesitate to switch to another restaurant. that freedom makes both the -- try harer. it's why the free market is better than government because government really gives you a choice. if your kid is in a bad public school you cannot fire the school and shoes and other school. the same is true for the voters -- motor vehicle department. -- made an important point when he said that. some people, it's like talking to donkeys. >> i don't have -- the united states or france, they live in the united states of america. they're going to have to get with it.

unbelievable. john: i prefer his take to my presidents who spends propaganda , says one thing and does another. he said that, but the first spending bill, earmarks. candid obama criticized hillary clinton. >> she believes that we have to force people who don't have health insurance. john: she believes in force, a mandate. imagine that. be honest. vote for barack obama. just say something like this.

>> when i was elected i promise that i would get a handle on the national debt, but i didn't. i said that would cut wasteful programs, but i did not. irought together a bipartisan group to recommend how o put us on a sustainable course, but then i did not even try to do what they said. nell i realize that we are n the road to bankruptcy, and i will undo my mistakes to my will cut regulation and shrink government spending. bill clinton levels. john: i can dream, can't tell? that would be this huge improvement. but i'm not likely to see that. that is our show. thank you for watching. good night. [applause] john: